boe

The point of the forum would not be to strictly discuss which is technically better but it would be to discuss what movies are coming out and when. What features they have over the standard version. What new equipment is available to play back these new movies.

How long do people usually discuss before the superbowl who is going to win vs. how long after the game do you discuss the results of the game. I think there is a much longer period before the game than after.

nightmaster

Waiting for some supposed appropriate time isn't going to happen; it isn't happening now and hasn't been. You're going to continue to see the threads whether there is an area or not;opening a forum area now accomodates those who are presently enthralled with HD.

Qui Gon Jim

HD DVD would be an extension of current DVD and discussion would help people make informed bying decisions. They are not like a sports forum on a movie site.

DthRdrX

IMO, they should just use one sticky thread for the HD formats like the HTForum does. This will eliminate most of the various threads being started about the subject, all the time, as some have stated.

With one sticky HD hopefulls can jump for joy with excitement about burning their standard dvds, in cults, while all the naysayers can stop complaining about their movie libraries becoming yesterday's news, thanks to a new format that is not much better. Ok, that was just a bad joke.

I'm all for speculation about the format. When the time comes to start preordering software it would be cool to see a subforum.

ctyankee

Works for me.

Qui Gon Jim

Great post. I agree with you on a HD sticky, and furthermore I agree with your distillation of the two extremes. I like to think I fall in the middle; I love DVD and can't wait (well I can until player prices aren't so scary)to continue my collection on an HD format.

boe

I agree about the extremes - I have a small collection about 350 DVDs - I doubt I will double dip for too many of them to get the HD version but I certainly would love to move on to the new format since they've been showing it for about 3 years, it seems like the delay is absurd.

boe

I thought I read somewhere some group was about to release a bunch of HD movies shortly - I wish I had more info to go on but I don't recall the studio or even if they were HDDVD or blue laser.

Brian Shannon

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01...ies_announced/

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...2774126&EDATE=

http://www.connectedhomemag.com/Home...rticleID=43123

boe

Thanks - now I have more questions.

I thought the HD-DVD was going to have more storage capacity than a standard DVD but the last article makes it look like the greater storage is really only a different compression scheme - MPG4. Is that correct or did I misread? Mpeg2 vs Mpeg4 - any difference in the amount of colors, resolution or loss?

Thanks

Adam Tyner

Both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray have MPEG-4 as an option. The article (by DVD Talk's Josh Z) was accurate at the time, but it was written last June and doesn't reflect what's happened since then.

DthRdrX

To answer your question, the image on both formats seems like it will be 1080i. Both new formats have much much more storage room than dvd does. The question we need to answer is how will studios decide to encode their films. Mpeg 2 will need much bigger file sizes and will take up more space.

Mpeg 4 is much better than dvd's current mpeg2. D-Theater tapes usually run bitrates anywhere in the low to high 20s, using mpeg2, while mpeg 4 should do similar quality in the midteens. We will have to wait and see.

Blue-Ray has an advantage because it's greater storage space allows more room for higher bitrates than what Hd-dvd will be able to deliver. In theory though, HD-dvd should be able to deliver a 2 hour movie in mpeg4 with little to no sacrifice to image quality. I just think using mpeg 2 is a mistake if they decide to go that route as picture quality would suffer due to lack of disc space or the need for more compression and lower bitrates.

Looking at Sony's dvd history tells me they will keep costs of the HD movies down by sticking to one disc and putting all the features on with the movie. I have a feeling the only way we are seeing maxed out bitrate movies on the BR format is when they double dip for the Superbit release months later.

To conclude, I hope MPEG 4 is a go for both groups. Microsoft's VC-1 is still in the air btw. VC-1 was in the cards for the longest time but just recently about 10 or so different companies have hit up Microsoft looking for patent rights with it. I'm sure the story is online if anyone feels like searching. I have read concerns on the AVSforum about some groups wanting to go back to mpeg2 to save costs, which would be a disaster for consumers IMO.

Sonic

I couldn't agree more. Maybe one sticky thread is fine but please man not so many what for? Wait until the shit comes out.

-ant

boe

I think of this forum as a good place not only to find out about DVD quality but also release dates.

I think discussing them isn't that much different than dicussing a potential future suberbit, SE or director cuts of current DVDs. Do those discussions upset you as well?